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‘It's like taking a bit of masculinity away from you’ : towards a theoretical understanding of men's experiences of infertility
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Dolan, Alan, Lomas, Tim, Ghobara, Tarek and Hartshorne, Geraldine M. (2017) ‘It's like taking a bit of masculinity away from you’ : towards a theoretical understanding of men's experiences of infertility. Sociology of Health & Illness, 39 (6). pp. 878-892. doi:10.1111/1467-9566.12548 ISSN 0141-9889.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12548
Abstract
In the UK, nearly half of all cases of infertility involve a ‘male-factor’. Yet, little empirical work has explored how men as men negotiate this terrain. Three interrelated concepts; ‘hegemonic masculinity’, ‘embodied masculinity’ and the linkages between ‘masculinities’ and male help-seeking, provide the theoretical framework that guided a qualitative study conducted with 22 men experiencing infertility. The paper explores men's propensity to delay their help-seeking in relation to infertility despite their desire for children. It also demonstrates how, in the context of infertility, the male body can be defined as both a failed entity in itself (unable to father a child) and a subordinated social entity (unable to measure up to hegemonic ideals) that characterises men's masculine identities. The paper also illustrates how men appear willing to accept responsibility for their infertility and adopt aspects of hitherto subordinate masculine practice. This does not, however, constitute the total unravelling of well understood and accepted expressions of masculinity. Finally, the paper demonstrates how infertility is perceived as having the potential to fracture current and even future relationships. Moreover, regardless of how well men measured up to other hegemonic ideals, ultimately they can do little to counteract the threat of other (fertile) men.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences > Cell & Developmental Biology Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences Other > Centre for Lifelong Learning Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Infertility, Male, Masculinity | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Sociology of Health & Illness | ||||||
Publisher: | Blackwell | ||||||
ISSN: | 0141-9889 | ||||||
Official Date: | July 2017 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 39 | ||||||
Number: | 6 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 878-892 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1111/1467-9566.12548 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 13 March 2017 | ||||||
Funder: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC) | ||||||
Grant number: | ES/I02834X/1 |
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